Tuesday 1 March 2011 09.29 EST
First published on Tuesday 1 March 2011 09.29 EST

The final stage of the 2011 Tour of Britain will return to central London, finishing on Whitehall on 18 September.

The stage was moved last year to accommodate the Papal visit but its return to the popular Whitehall and Victoria Embankment circuit used in previous years will provide an opportunity for fans to see the top cyclists competing on the streets of London less than a year before the Olympics.

"As previous years have shown, the circuit we are using is perfectly suited to the sprinters, so I expect to see the stage again culminate in a bunch sprint," the race director, Mick Bennett, said. "In previous years riders of the calibre of Mark Cavendish, Matt Goss and Andre Greipel have all won sprint stages, so I'm sure that 2011 will be no different."

The event has also been praised by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, himself a keen cyclist.

"The Tour of Britain is a fantastic event and I am thrilled to be able to support it," he said. "I would urge Londoners and visitors to turn out and cheer on the cyclists as they whizz past some of the capital's iconic landmarks and raise money for a really worthwhile cause."

Members of the public will have the opportunity to ride and compare themselves to their professional counterparts for the third year running in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Scotland will stage the Tour of Britain Grand Depart on Sunday 11 September, with full details of the entire race route, that will culminate in London, to be announced at the National Launch in the spring.